Peo­ple hold­ing off big spends

Un­der-pres­sure house­holds are be­com­ing in­creas­ingly cau­tious about mak­ing ma­jor pur­chases as the squeeze on their spend­ing power leaves them more down­beat about their fi­nances, re­search has found.

The pro­por­tion of peo­ple feel­ing good about their fi­nances has fallen back for two months in a row, ac­cord­ing to the Lloyds Bank Spend­ing Power Re­port.

In signs that house­holds are feel­ing the squeeze from ris­ing liv­ing costs, the pro­por­tion of peo­ple feel­ing neg­a­tive about in­fla­tion reached its high­est level since Fe­bru­ary 2014, with 62% of peo­ple feel­ing down­beat about in­fla­tion in May.